Rules and Regulations

Games are two halves of 35 minutes with a 5 minute half-time break. All times as indicated in the schedule will be strictly enforced by the umpires. In particular, all games will end at the designated times.

The umpires are the official timekeepers. Umpires should arrive well ahead of time to check conditions of the field and goals, and to agree on who will be the primary timekeeper. Umpires will be indicated on the final schedules distributed to teams.

Each team is to call the umpires officiating their game the night before to verify attendance. (For early morning games it may also be advisable to call immediately before the game.) The teams playing the first game of the day are responsible for setup of the goals. Failure to do so will result in penalties to be determined by BAFHA.

The teams playing the last game are responsible for taking down the goals at Berkeley and locking them back up. Umpires should monitor this. Note that the game times include warm-up. Warm-up time between games will vary depending on field time available. It will range from 5 -15 minutes.

5 minutes before each game, the team captains are to meet with the umpires at the centre of the field. The umpires will indicate this time by two blows of the whistle from the centre of the field. The rest of the team may continue with warm-up. 1 minute before the start of the game the umpires will blow the whistle twice to indicate that warm-up is to cease and non-players are to vacate the field. There wil be no second warning.The next whistle indicates the start of the game.

The game will be started by a single blow of the whistle from the primary timekeeping umpire. Teams must provide a minimum number (7) of their own players in order to play. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit. Each team must have a goal keeper (rule 6.3 of FIH) who may be “borrowed” from other teams. If a goalkeeper is “borrowed” each team is still required to have 7 players. Penalties for forfeiture will be determined by the BAFHA league rules. Play may commence as soon as time has been started by the umpires, irrespective of whether both teams are ready.

Players attempting to delay the beginning of the game should be penalized by the umpires with a card. One minute before the end of halftime, umpires will give warning by blowing the whistle twice. There will be no further warning. The second half begins with the next whistle.

At the end of time, both teams are to immediately vacate the field to give the next team time to warm up. In the case of the last game of the day, both teams are to immediately take down their goals to ensure BAFHA’s contractual obligation to the Universities and vacate the field on time before the next scheduled event. Kleeberger Field and Stanford turf are playable in all conditions excepting gale force winds or earth movements.

There will be NO cancellations on account of weather. This does not prevent an umpire on the field from stopping a game due to unsafe conditions. As always, the umpire’s primary responsibility is the safety of the players on the field. All games will start on time. There is no grace period. The field will be available 15 minutes before each game for warm up.

Captains of the home team games are responsible for filling out the game cards and submitting them to the umpires. Captains are responsible for showing USFHA memberships and IDs (with photo) to the umpires prior to game start. After game end, the umpires will submit the cards to the captains for signature. The captain of the winning team is responsible for posting the scores using the on-line score submission form.

Umpires should email the Secretary with any incident report involving reds cards.